xx, 742 pages : 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 723-726) and index

System requirements: PC: Windows 95, 98, NT4 or higher; WinZip or other decompression utility; Adobe Acrobat Reader; Intel Pentium 100 MHz processor (200 MHz processor recommended); 32 MB of RAM. Macintosh: OS 7 or higher; Adobe Acrobat Reader; 32 MB of RAM; 50-250 MB disk storage

Part I. Game Design -- Chapter 1. First Concept -- The Shock Of The New -- Having The Idea -- Shaping The Idea -- The Treatment -- Taking Stock -- Getting It Down -- Feasibility -- Chapter 2. Core Design -- What Is A Game? -- Games Aren't Everything -- Games Mean Gameplay -- Creating The Game Spec -- Example Game Spec -- Chapter 3. Gameplay -- What Is Gameplay? -- Implementing Gameplay -- Interactivity -- Chapter 4. Detailed Design -- The Designer's Role -- Design Documentation -- Using The Design Documents -- Fitting Design To Development -- Why Use Documents At All? -- Chapter 5. Game Balance -- Player/Player Balance -- Player/Gameplay Balance -- Gameplay/Gameplay Balance -- A Game Balance Checklist -- Chapter 6. Look And Feel -- Ambience -- Interface -- Storytelling -- The Sum Of The Parts -- Chapter 7. Wrapping Up -- The Professionals -- Chapter 8. The Future Of Game Design -- The Necessity Of Design -- Essentials Of Game Design -- The Future Of Design -- The Future Of Games -- The Way Forward -- Part II. Team Building And Management -- Chapter 9. Current Methods Of Team Management -- The Current Development Model -- Chapter 10. Roles And Divisions -- Assigning Personnel -- Improving Morale And The Working Environment -- Spreading The Risk -- Chapter 11. The Software Factory -- What Is A Software Factory? -- Why Use A Software Factory? -- Organizing A Software Factory -- Applying The Software Factory Structure And Methodology -- The Suitability Of A Software Factory -- Chapter 12. Milestones And Deadlines -- How Milestones Currently Work -- Fuzzy Milestones -- Milestones And Mini-Milestones -- When To Use Milestones -- Making Your Milestones Accurate -- Defining Milestones -- Chapter 13. Procedures And "Process" -- Procedures -- "Process" -- Procedures: Where To Use Them? -- Source Control And Code Reviews: A Synergy -- The Importance Of Information Transmission -- Chapter 14. Troubleshooting -- Risks -- Chapter 15. The Future Of The Industry -- The State Of The Industry -- The New Model Developers -- The Online Revolution -- Survival of the Fittest -- Part III. Game Architecture -- Chapter 16. Current Development Methods -- The History Of Development Techniques -- The Present Day -- Chapter 17. Initial Design -- The Beginning -- Hardware Abstraction -- The Problem Domain -- Thinking In Tokens -- Chapter 18. Use Of Technology -- The State Of The Art -- Blue-Sky Research -- Reinventing The Wheel -- Use Of Object Technology -- Chapter 19. Building Blocks -- Reusability In Software -- Chapter 20. Initial Architecture Design -- The Birth Of An Architecture -- The Tier System -- Architecture Design -- Chapter 21. Development -- The Development Process -- Code Quality -- Coding Priorities -- Debugging And Module Completion -- The Seven Golden Gambits And The Three Lead Balloons -- The Three Lead Balloons -- Chapter 22. The Run-Up To Release -- Late Evaluation -- Late Localization -- Demos -- Playtesting -- Focus Groups -- The Web Site -- Getting Ready For The Gold Master -- Patches -- Chapter 23. Postmortem -- Team Dynamics -- Concept -- Development -- Business Aspects -- The Postmortem Postmortem -- Chapter 24. The Future Of Game Development -- Development In Context -- Future Development -- Small Is Beautiful Too -- Building The Team Of The Future -- New Directions In Development -- The Shape Of Things To Come? -- Part IV. Appendixes -- Appendix A. Sample Game Design Documents -- Appendix B. Bibliography And References

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